How I Found And Lost A Friend
by Dagenspear
Summary: A journey with Robin through the years during and after Ted and Tracey's wedding, a journey filled with unexpected friendships, tragedy, responsibility, and the love that stems from it all. Robin/Ted romance, with Robin/Tracey friendship, and some Ted/Tracey thrown in.


**Hey! This is my first time writing fanfiction for this pairing. So, the finale left a lot of gaps to be filled for the most part, and I figured I'd take a crack at filling them. This is going to have a lot of Ted and The Mother/Tracey in it, but is mainly a Ted and Robin, with Robin and Tracey friendship. For some reason, I just see Robin and Tracey having this great friendship .There's more after this chapter. I REALLY hope you guys like it!**

It had been a small wedding. Ted and Tracey's. Mr. and Mrs. Mosby's.

Robin was happy for them. She really was. Ted was happy. Tracey was happy. Their children were. They were one big happy family.

Lily had set up a small get-together afterwards. It was nice. Robin stayed and mingled with the group for a little bit. It was good to see Barney so put together. He'd been a bit of a mess after the divorce. He actually spent the entire night showing everyone baby pictures. Robin could honestly say that she never would've expected him to be such a completely devoted father. A good one, yes maybe. But like this? Boy did that girl have him wrapped around her little finger.

Lily and Marshall were great, as always. Lily wasn't quite as warmed up to her presence as she'd hoped she'd be, but they eventually fell back into their old habits. Marshall gave her a big bear hug. And they proceeded to talk of nothing but their children. Robin mostly smiled and nodded. She didn't have a problem listening to everyone talk about their kids. It just made her feel a little out of place, left out a bit.

She finally ran into Ted. She hadn't been deliberately sidestepping him. Not really. She just wasn't sure if they could talk to each other without feeling awkward. Ted smiled at her, a warm and sincere smile, and said he was happy that she came. It made her smile back. She was surprised how easily they hit a stride in conversation. For the first thirty minutes they talked about how their careers were going. Ted was doing amazingly in his architect career. He told her he'd been hard at work on a new building. She congratulated him. She told him about her travels, the stories she'd reported on, and her next story. Ted congratulated her. Things were going really great. They were having fun, joking around, and Robin had to go and ruin it by stupidly ask that damning question:

"So, how's the kids?" Robin froze. She hadn't even given her words any thought. It was just the natural course of the conversation. Professional. Anecdotal. Then personal. That was how conversations were supposed to be. Of course, exes were more complicated. But Robin let herself get pulled into talking. Now things were awkward. She could tell Ted wasn't sure what to think about her question. He had that quizzical, furrowed eyebrows look.

But he quickly relaxed and said, "They're great. Penny lost a tooth last week."

He was so at ease. It told her that he was okay with this. That whatever awkwardness she was afraid of getting in the way of their friendship wasn't there. It certainly took a load off of her shoulders, and brought a calming smile to her face that she could barely contain. The smile spread wider as she remembered beautiful little Penny, and how fast she was growing up. "Really?"

Ted smiled right back. "Yeah."

"Wow." Robin said, in slight surprise. "She's really growing up, isn't she?"

Ted nodded. "Certainly faster than I'd like."

"It won't be long before she's beating off guys with a stick."

"Oh God, please, I don't even want to think about that."

"Don't worry, I'm sure Luke will make you proud and be quite the looker to balance it out."

"Well, obviously, look who his father is."

Robin laughed. She liked this. She couldn't remember why she'd thought they couldn't have this anymore.

"Hey, Mr. Mosby."

Her smile faded. Now she did.

**Hey! What did you think? Please, PLEASE REVIEW!**


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